Year End 2013

Well, and here we are. Tomorrow' the start of a new year so, to all my readers, may I wish you a Happy New Year.

• In 2013 I ran (logged) 71 runs compared to a logged 21 runs in 2012.
• I ran (at least) a total of 772km compared to a logged 135 in 2012.
• My longest run was 32km in July compared to a longest run 2012 of 8.8km.
• I entered one race in 2013, the Vienna Night Run (5km) - compared to none entered in 2012.

and now my PBs...

• 5km PB = 25.52.7 min on the 1st October 2013 compared to a 34,15 in 2012.
• 10km PB = 58.10 on the 14th July 2013.
• HM PB = 2 hours 29 on the 29th June.

2014 targets..

and looking forward? Well, I'd love to complete the Vienna Marathon in less than 4 hours 47 (which is my brother's current marathon PB as far as I'm aware). I'd like to do, at least, another 2 or 3 marathons (official or unofficial) as well as run a 50km sometime. I'm aware I need to work on my speed somewhat if I want to make my marathon target so that's another target. I'm going to try and find some more running partners so maybe the Vindebona Hash House Harriers or possibly Internations (an expat group) who run a sunday morning group.


and that's it, for now :) Tomorrow is another year.

Music

What do I listen to? Well, Anything, everything - classical, musicals, pop (from 7 decades), rock, dance, and more. How would I measure my musical preferences though? Well, one way would be to use the iTunes playcount so....

I'm gonna periodically (every 3 months I can I remember) update this, more out of a sense of personal interest than anything else. I may like to think of myself as a hardened rocker but iTunes is the sitar of truth....

May 2015
What's changed? Hmmm, well, my library is 21,800 songs strong +- a few - because I'm old and bitter I've filtered out all of the love songs - pesky things that they are.

1. "Solitary Man" is still number uno - 280 plays strong.
2. Rob Zombie's cover of "Blitzkrieg Bop" has stormed into the no.2 spot
3. "Highway to Hell" has moved up a spot to no. 3
4. "Livin' on a Prayer" takes the 4th spot
5. "The Mourning After" drops to 5th from 2nd.
6. The Clash enter the top 10 for the first time with their classic "Should I stay..."
7. And here come the boys from Boston with "Wicked Sensitive Crew"
8. Bowie (I've never been a big fan of his) puts in a surprise showing with "Rebel Never Gets Old"
9. A classic (well, it is now) - "Sweet Child O' Mine"
10. Lunatic Calm's "Leave You Far Behind" with 99 plays.

Lady Gaga just misses out on a a top 10 spot with her excellent "You & I" - next time eh? The next pop song on my list is in 29th spot but it's the Beatles "I Saw Her Standing There" so hey...no shame! Which makes me wonder where my first shameful song is ....time to scroll....well, I got down to 250th without feeling shame :)



My iTunes top 10 as of December 2013, taken from a library of some 17k songs...

1. Solitary Man - H.I.M's cover - 88 plays
2. The Mourning After - Kamelot - 67 plays
3. Love You to Death - Kamelot - 66 plays
4. Highway to Hell - AC/DC - 63 plays
5. I Want You to Want Me - Cheap Trick - 62 plays
6. Blaze of Glory - Bon Jovi - 59 plays
7. Solitary Man - Johnny Cash's cover - 56 plays
8. The Cut Runs Deep - Deep Purple - 55 plays
9. All in the Name of Pity - Skunk Anansie - 55 plays
10. Leave You Far Behind - Lunatic Calm - 53 plays.

All rock (apart from Cash), no real surprise I guess. Pop rears its head with Blur's Girls & Boys at  number 20 with Lady Gaga's You and I at 28.


And that's it, next music update in March 2014 but, of course, regular updates for running.

December 2013

December 2013
Monthly total (rounded down to the nearest half): 59km over 8 runs
Yearly total:799 km

December the 30th
And another 9km (actually 9.38) run bites the dust. Ran it in, according to Runkeeper I ran it in 59, 28 so that gets rounded up to the one hour mark. Pretty much the same time as my last two runs, a few seconds quicker maybe. I'm pretty happy with it (the time) as I only had one rest day so, in theory at least, my legs were still tired from Saturday. Next run, New Years Day.


December the 28th, 2013 (Saturday)
Well, ran the 9km canal route again and it turned out that my guess from Christmas Day was about right. It took almost exactly 1 hour to run the 9.5km (both GPS programs worked this time). I'm going to keep running this until I can work my pace up to about equivalent to 10.5km per hour (that's about 5.45 min per KM). Means I need to knock off about a minute per KM for this course, or, in other words, bring the course time down to about 51 minutes. So that's my target :)

The 25th of December, 2013
Another 5 day break and also my first timed run to Gunoldstrassebrucke and back. Of course the GPS went screwy so I  have no timings or accurate distance (Mapsource tells me 9km). I suspect Endo/Runkeeper can't cope with me listening to the Beeb at the same time so, from now on and as long as I remember, it's music only.
Anyway, a sort of new route - from home, along the canal to Gunoldstrassebrucke and back. It's adding 2km to my run so, in the spirit of keeping progress slow but steady, things are on track. After the run I could definitely feel my metatarsals aching and can't curl my toes properly but I reckon that's just part and parcel of the recovery process now - no doubt it'd heal a lot quicker if I just didn't run for the next 6 months but bugger that!..
Anyway, it was also rather warm for the time of year - knocking on 6 degrees (above) and dry.
So, without further ado..

My 89th run 25th December 1 hour (I had to guess at the time as, as mentioned above, the GPS went mad). I hope it was closer to 55 minutes, or quicker. I think I was running about a 6,30 min per KM pace so that'd work out to about 58,30 minutes for the course but I did have to walk a bit to slow my heart rate down so...maybe the 1 hour's overly optimistic,

Oh, and as I was running a new target jumped into my head - I'd like to be able to run a consistent 11km per hour pace (which is 5,27 per KM) over at least 2 hours so, once I can run this course in 50 minutes or less I'll extend the distance.

9km in 1 hour (probably) - that's about a 6,40 per KM pace - lots of work to do.

For what it's worth, in order to run a 4 and a 1/2 hour marathon, which is my target, I'd need to run a 6,26 pace (over the 42km) hence a quicker pace target during training.

Oh, and Merry Christmas :)

20th December
Wow! a 5 day break! It didn't feel like that.

Was hovering around zero degrees and dark but out I went. Threw on a compression layer, a standard
base layer, a thick t-shirt and a pair of gloves, oh and I wore my do-rag underneath my baseball cap. Felt pretty comfortable. Also, pretty happy at the pace, nothing record breaking but it was just over the 6 minute mark bringing my time for the course to (rounded up) 45 minutes. This was my target so, now it's been hit, I'm going to extend my runs to the next bridge (which adds about another KM I think).
My foot's still there although I can "feel" it, so am aware of the potential for injury. Right foot's feeling better, although I do need to do some more regular stretching, especially of the hamstring and Achilles tendon.
7km in 45 minutes

15th December, 2013
This blog is all a bit dry isn't it? :) Ces't la vie. I'm not gonna get personal, reveal my inner most thoughts or anything like that (at least I hope not). It's about running, and my work towards my goals...so, on that note - I went out again yesterday. Ran real slow as I'm still (paranoid?) concerned about my left foot. I'm writing this on the following day and I can still feel some aches in my left foot and right ankle and shin but I hope that this is just old age

So I ran 7 km in 1 hour.

What I'd like to be able to do is comfortably run a 10km/hour pace for 4 and a half hours. If you were wondering.

12th December, 2013
After minor motivational issues I finally hauled myself out and ran 7km (Endo measured 6.91) along the canal. As I was alone the pace was slightly quicker than I'd been used to and I had a stich (lower left) for quite a while. Still, a good work out. Right foot felt a wee bit "twingey" and I can feel a dull ache in my left. Will probably take at least a 2 day break now. Am rather worried about injury re-occurrence.

The time was just over 45 minutes - my PB for this course is 41 minutes and I'd like to get closer to that pace again before I start to run longer distances on a regular basis. Ideally I'd like to be running 15 to 20km runs by March so I feel that I can go easy right now.

8th of December, 2013
Took a wee "stroll" along the Donau Canal - according to both Runkeeper and Endomondo I ran 10.3km but I have my doubts (for some reason I'm prone to disbelieving my GPS - it's caused me all sorts of problems). I ran with Lila, which works well as it keeps my speed in rein and limits the distance - something my metatarsals are glad about). I did notice my big toe unable to curl completely, a symptom I've associated with metatarsal bruising but (and I'm writing this on the following day) 24 hours later it'd cleared up so...fingers crossed..again.

10.32km in 1 hour 18.44.


5th December
For the first time in years I went to Schonbrunn. For those of you in the dark it's a big building in Vienna and, apparently, famous for some reason. Nice place to run in though and it's got this god-aweful, but voluntary, hill smack back in the middle of it which makes a pretty good challenge. Rather like the Duke of Wellington I went up it but, rather shockingly, I found myself having to stop and rest for a few seconds to let the lactic acid (that's a guess based on nothing) that had built up in my legs clear....and then stop again...and again. It's not like it's amazingly steep or even that far but, on the plus side, I got a nice view of Vienna when I got the top.

4.87km in 45.42.

3rd December, 2013.

Well, I just got back from my first run in about 6 weeks. So far my metatarsals feel OK, although it's not always immediately apparent.

Here's a tree I saw...

My plan, assuming the injury doesn't re-occur, is to run a maximum of 7km every other day all month. No long runs, I'll, and bear in mind this is written on a post-run high, probably alternate between the canal, around the ring and maybe a wee bit in other places like Schonbrunn etc.

Anyway..

5.77km (according to Runkeeper) in 35.39.

Oh, and I entered the VCM (Vienna City Marathon). It's in April.

October 2013

Month 2 of this blog...and it's day 1 so I'll start off with my goals for the month...

17th October
Soooo...I'm gonna try again, a 10km run back from my german lesson to home. Fingers crossed eh?

Well, I managed it. Things were touch at go at the start, my right leg still felt heavy but I slowed the pace, and kept it slow, and kept going. In the end it took me 1 hour 10 minutes to get home (my course PB is 1 hour 2 mins). What's kinda weird is that, having finished, it's my left foot that's iffy...not my right leg. It feels like I've got metatarsals again although it's no where near as bad as it was. Tomorrow's a rest day so I'll see how I feel on Saturday.

Monthly Goal (160km) 99km remain.

15th October 4km
Not as far as I'd intended but after 4km my right lower leg was starting to wood up - I know that doesn't make much sense medically so...well, it didn't feel responsive - it felt as though everything between my right knee and right ankle was made of wood....so I cut the run short (it was meant to be about 10km). I don't think I need to rest it as such, so I'll maybe run tomorrow night and/or Thursday. Anyway, 4km is 4km. I gotta say though - my monthly goal is gonna need some significant attention paying to it in the second half of the month.

Monthly Goal (160km) - 109km remain.

10th October 21km
A slow short run that turned into a "slightly" longer run than intended. Overall very slow but I'm OK with that as I'm more focussed on getting the miles back up right now. I'm actually writing this the morning after and, as I sit here, I can certainly feel my calves throbbing. A lot of stretching will be needed today me thinks.

Monthly Goal (160km) - 113km remain..

8th October 11km
Had a nice 11km run tonight. From the Prater, to the end of the Hauptalle, back down and then ran home. Ran with Lila for most of the run, nice and slow but still enough to work up a good sweat. She bailed out at the 9km mark and I upped the pace back to Swedensplatz. Went from running a KM between 8 and 11 mins per to just over 5 minutes per. Felt good.

Monthly Goal (160km) - 134km to go.

3rd October
Goal 2 achieved and in a new PB time of 25 minutes 52.7 seconds so that merits a "woohoo!".
As for my first goal - well, I've just gotten back from a 10k run in a pretty reasonable time so that's a good start. If I include Tuesday's run that's 15km down, 145km to go.

Last month I'd set myself a target to run 180km by the end of the September but I failed. I only managed 126. Plenty of excuses but none of them real. Anyhoo, as a result, I'm gonna knock 20km off the amount and try again so - if you're wondering why, it's cos I add 20km when I make a goal, subtract when I don't. I've successfully completed three of these things since June (a 120, a 140 and a 160km) and the 180km goal was my first failure. Still, as the Germans would never say "Scheiße passieren"

Goal Numero Uno - run 160km by the end of October. I'll get back to my 4 runs every 9 days - 3 x "normal" and 1 x LSR (it's the LSR I really want to get back to) starting Thursday the 3rd*. I'll take it easy at first, as I don't want to have metatarsals again so I play 3 x 7km and 1 x 11km for the first week.

*If you're wondering why the 3rd and not today...that leads me on to..

Goal Number Duo - run the Vienna Night Run 5km (that's tonight!) race in a PB time. That means 29.04 or quicker. It'll be my first official time and it's gonna be awesome! 17,000 runners, setting off in 5 waves. More to follow.

And that's it.....for now.

Vienna Night Run 2013

The Vienna Night Run 2013 - my first ever race.

2nd October

The timing website (here) is back up. The quickest, recorded, time was 14 minutes, 35.5 seconds! That's just astonishing! FWIW the current world record is 12 minutes 37.35 seconds (set in 2004 by Kenenisa Bekele). And now, with no further ado....*drumroll please*...my time (I need to scroll through a few pages)...

*time to lean forward, Top Gear style*

25 minutes, 52.7 seconds!! That's a new PB for me! Woot woot!

1st October (PM)

And that's the run done. My first race complete. What can I say about it? Well, I got there early, with a friend who was also running (although she was in a different group) so had time to kinda suss out what was what and where was where. Come 15 minutes to my start time, spotted movement in my colour (I was group yellow) so I kinda went with the flow (bearing in mind it's all in German, which I can't speak). That left me in the middle of about 5,000 people (they recorded 19,000 entrants running in 5 waves) all trying to get as close to the line as possible whilst stretching, so lots of flailing limbs.

And then we were off!

The first 1/4 of the race was a gentle downhill, which was nice, in a way, but we were all really bunched up still so there was a hell of a lot of ducking and diving, dodging and weaving. I gave up on the inside line almost immediately - whilst running the outside is a lot longer (it's a 3 lane road with tram tracks on both sides) it was quieter, easier to run, easier to over-take, and more relaxed.

After the downhill section came a flat section, yellow group was starting to space out by now and folks were starting to find their own pace so things were more relaxed and the run continued in that theme as we rounded the next bend and onto the "hill" section - a very gentle, but quite long (roughly 1km) climb which slowed a lot of people (including myself) down. Here's where the walkers started to appear but I continued to run, continued to over-take most whilst being over-taken by the few. I was pretty happy with my pace and, at points, was really happy with my running style - being able to stride - to stretch out the legs and kinda lope along at what is, for me, a good pace.

At this point we're running past the Opera, and other mildly famous buildings in Vienna, so loads of eye candy, both on and off the "track" was to be seen. Anyway, back to the race...with the hill finished we rounded the penultimate corner (there's only really 4) and could see the lights of the Rathaus (it marks this years finish line) shining in the distance. I found this pretty useful as it let me know roughly how was there was to go and gave me the confidence to pick up the pace a wee bit (I'm kinda guessing here as I've yet to check out my split times (something I'm doing right now so let's see eh?). Time times are taken from Endo.

Kilometre 1 - 5.04 This was pretty much all downhill but very busy
Kilometre 2 - 5.04 Along the flat, more space to work with
Kilometre 3 - 4.54 Starting to climb but, for me, a very good time
Kilometre 4 - 5.10 Saw off the end of the hill and back onto the flat
Kilometre 5 - 5.09 I'm pretty happy with the consistency.

And I crossed the line. Endo saw a time of 26.26 which is good for me. If it's accurate, and I'm still waiting for the official race time, then I'm gonna be looking at a new PB for me. Fingers crossed eh?

And now it's time to insert a few pictures....

1st October (AM)
 
Wow! The queue for the stuff was huge! Took longer to get my gear (t-shirt, goodie bag, timing chip) that it did to enter Russia or America) - just over two hours. Pretty ridiculous. I did speak to another fellow "queuer" and he told me that it wasn't typical, that it's normally organised far more efficiently.

And now for some pre-race eye candy..
 

 
And an over-view of the course - it's a 5km run around the Ringstrasse in Vienna. It's a 3 lane road that encircles Vienna's 1st district - we get to run past the Opera, the Rathaus, Parliament and other buildings that I've been told are probably famous....It pretty much traces the old city walls so here's a picture of Vienna, with those walls, that's much nicer than a google map. Follow the wall, in a clock-wise direction, to follow the race.
 

 
 

30th September 2013

Well, tomorrow is my first race. It's a 5km, short distance but big race for a few reasons. Tomorrow night some 17,000 folks will be running around the Vienna Ring, and I'll be one of them. I spent the last two hour queuing for the race-number, the chip, the t-shirt and the goodie bag. Tomorrow I'll tie on the chip and tomorrow night I'll run. My current PB is about 29.05 so I'd like to beat that.

More to follow :)

September 2013

Heh, with no events to drive postings/updates I found myself wondering what to write about but, at the end of the day, it's pretty easy. Running. That's what this blog is all about after all. So...

September 2013...(didn't start this monthly update until the 18th...)

30th September
Total mileage for September 2013 - 43 miles. That sets the benchmark, I guess....low but, what with my "injury" and voluntary rest, it could be worse :).

The Spartathlon was this weekend :) Maybe next year...



My German lessons are about 11km away from home so I've taken to taking the Ubahn (underground) there and running back. It's a nice run that crosses the old Danube and the new, goes past the Prater and the UN before crossing the Danube canal into the first district of Vienna. Takes about an hour (my PB is 1 hour 2 minutes) and has a lot of opportunities for breaks (pedestrian crossings etc) which give me time to stretch.

As I was running yesterday (the 17th) I could feel some twinges, a few aches and pains in my shins, and I still can't curl my left big toe so I'm thinking about taking a rest day today - which means, I hope, that I won't....but I might...it's raining as well...almost.

What I need is to re-establish a pattern of running that compliments the run back from Rennbahnweg. incorporates some "official" rest days and still returns about 50 to 60 KM per week. It's a work in progress....

Well, bugger! Sort of. I was running back from German today (18th Sept) and got to about 3.5km when the aches became too much. I could kinda sense that if I continued the ache would move to pain so I called it a day. I'm gonna take the next two days off now and try again on Saturday. It could just be my legs getting used to the new insoles. That's my hope anyway. Oh, I also took the precaution of popping into my local decent shoe shop and getting some cheap-ish insoles (that provide support for my high arches) for my walking boots.

25th September..

Picked up my shoes again and went for a very slow, fairly short (4.5km) run along the canal. My stride still feels strange but the run felt OK and I was able to sprint and stretch. I'm beginning to suspect that I really need to vary my speed a lot more, and work in more hills, so as to avoid only being able to run at XX speed all the time. Food for thought..well, for me anyway.

26th...

Did a run around the Ring with Lila. Went real slow, stretched a lot along the way and it felt pretty good. Whilst the Ortho said it'd take about 5 hours to get used to the new insoles I reckon it's gonna take three to four times that. Still, things are much better now (with them) than before (without them).

Well, I picked up the insoles this morning and took them for a wee 10km run this afternoon (just got back).

The good news is that, whilst I can still feel a bit of weakness in my left foot, I can stand on tip-toe so, fingers crossed, the insoles, and the additional arch support they provide have resolved the issue.

Huzzah! :)

I'm gonna take it easy for the first 5 runs (10km ish max per run) and continue to monitor my metatarsalwossnames. Providing things haven't worsened I'll throw in a couple of 15km hill runs and then, assuming success, I'll work my way back up to my long runs.

28th September

Just a quick update - after about 70km my legs still aren't back to what I'd call normal. I've had to (or feel that I've had to) practically learn to run all over again, starting with 5km runs. I'll admit that I overdid it at the start (those 10km runs back from my German lessons were probably a mistake).

Oh :) and it's the Spartathlon this weekend :) so good luck to everyone taking part.

Well bugger!

Went out today for a very slow run, very very slow, and yet the "injury" returned. It's not as bad as it was a few weeks ago but I'm having problems raising my left ankle again.

Very annoying!

I'm gonna have to wait, I think, for the insoles to be ready, before I run again.

Injury update:

Well, I had my Ortho appointment today. Very pleasantly surprised as my appointment was for 16:20 and I saw the doc at 16:25. He poked and prodded, in pretty good English, for a few minutes. Squeezed my feet and gave the impression that he knew what he was doing, which is always a good thing.

He diagnosed meta-tarsel thingieameebob. Something to do with my high arches, wide feet, and a weak forefoot (I think). I didn't take notes so have forgotten a few things (as you can tell from my medicalese).

His treatment was to suggest I get some custom insoles, which will give extra support to my arches, so I went next door and had my wide feet measured up (I stood in some weird box). It'll take a couple of weeks to make them but I'm cleared to run. The doc did suggest that I need to break the insoles in so to take it easy in them at first - something I need to remember.

Anyway, I'm gonna get back to running tomorrow so hopefully this'll be the penultimate update.

Bloody typical! A few days before my Ortho exam my injury has more or less completely cleared up! Pah!

I'm gonna keep the appointment anyway, maybe they can make some suggestions and won't run until they give me the all-clear.

Until them I'm cycling, weather permitting about 20km a day.

Hey ho.

Spent about an hour this morning having the x-ray (didn't gain any super-powers) and then about 2 hours waiting this afternoon for the doctor to take 5 minutes to say nothing was broken and that I should go see an orthopaedic doctor.

Soooooo....I have an appointment to see the ortho next week (on the 27th). Until then I continue to hobble. Ces't la vie.

Bucket List

Everyone needs a goal eh? Well, that's what they say so...here's mine..it'll probably get updated as I go along...

The London Marathon - I've entered this about 4 times, since 2000, with no joy but hey! at least I got a lousy t-shirt. Fingers crossed for October when I find out about VLM 2014.

The Marathon de Sables - looks awesome. I love the idea of having to carry everything (apart from water and a tent). Looks like an amazing challenge.

The Ultra Trail du Mont-Blanc - I fancy the idea of a wee run around a mountain.

The Spartathlon - My folks live in Greece, I lived there for a few years as a babe, love the land, love the food and the people, not to mention the culture. And, of course, this is the race that started it all. There can only be one....

As of August 2013 - I've done none of these but I'm not dead yet.

Personal Bests

When working out a PB (assuming it's not an official time) I take a run, round down to the nearest KM and round my time up to the nearest minute and work out distance PB from where using that average page. Hope that makes sense. I never extrapolate up, only down.

I'll use this page to record my PBs over various distances.

5km
1st October 2013 - 25 minutes, 52.7 seconds (official time from Vienna Night Run)
14th July 2013 - 29 minutes, 5 seconds.
24th June 2013 - 29 minutes, 15 seconds.
22nd June 2013 - 30 minutes dead.
17th May 2013 30.45 minutes.
15th May 2013 - 33 minutes, 35 seconds.
only did a few runs, no PBs.
11th October 2012 - 34 minutes.
1st October 2012 - 35 minutes.
23rd September 2012 - 43 minutes (my first run over 5km).

10km
14th July 2013 - 58 minutes, 10 seconds.
22nd June 2013 - 1 hour dead.
1st June 2013 - 1 hour 4 (this was my first run over 10km).

HM (22km)
29th June 2013 - 2 hours, 28 minutes 52 seconds (my first run over 22km)

30km
12th August 2013 - 3 hours, 54 minutes.
3rd August 2013 - 4 hours, 5 minutes.
25th July 2013 - 4 hours, 16 minutes - (my first run over 30km and quite the leap up, in time, from the HM).

Downtime from injury or lethargy
November to December 2012 (post flu lethargy)
February to March 2013 (injury)
13th August 2013 to September (metatarsal injury)

Am I injured? Who knows...

19th August 2013
Well, after a week of being un-able to stand on tip-toe on my left foot (right foot is fine, both feet is a can do but left foot alone is a big nope) I took myself along to the doctors who promptly gave me a referral to an x-ray clinic. I'll go tomorrow (20th August) so...well, fingers crossed :)

It's been a full week since I've run and I'm feeling antsy.

Playing catchup

So here I am again, midlife crisis guy ;p

A few years ago I was made redundant and decided to sail around the world. I didn't make it very far but I had a hell of a good time :)

And now I'm running. A man needs something to do.

I started to run back in October of 2012 but pretty quickly picked up an injury (totally my own fault) so I stopped for a few months. I picked up my running shoes, seriously, in June of 2013 but first...

So October -

When I started to run I couldn't run 5km without having to stop and walk some. My average pace was between 7 and 8 minutes per KM (in English that's about 11 to 13 minutes per mile). But I kept going and, after about half a dozen runs I was able to run, without stopping, for the entire 5km distance :) A breakthrough!

I ran, and I ran and I ran - never far, never quick but I kept it up, running about 4 times a week with each run between 5km and 10km. Most of the time things hurt, or ached. And then I popped both knees - no real idea how. I went out one day and "bang". Pain! I had problems sleeping, let along walking so I kinda took it easy for a few months. Anyhoo, time passes, quite a bit - it was winter after all and gets pretty chilly here in winter, and I wanted to go skiing with some friends so the excuses built up and up :)

Wind the clock forward to June of this year - I'd say that's when I started to run again. I ran 17 times, with distances varying between 7 and 11km. My speed, on the 7km runs was pretty close to 6 min per KM with the 11km runs being run at about 7 minutes per. Not bad. Made me pretty happy at least.

July of 2013 saw me run 14 times and I'd found a rhythm that worked for me. 3 normal runs with a rest day between each and then an LSR (Long Slow Run) followed by 2 days of rest.

And now here we are - all caught up.

I'm running 11km and trying to do it in under an hour. So far my best is 1 hour 4 minutes.  Once I've cracked the hour I'll find a new route but, for now, I'm running the canal twice a week and, as mentioned I'm currently chasing the hour on it. My PB (Personal Best) is 1 hour 4 minutes.

here's the route

Once a week I run what I call a hill run - that's about 15km long with about 4km of that being a steady climb from the centre of Vienna to an outlying district called Grinzing.

Here's that route..

My PB for this course is currently 1 hour 40, I'd like to get that down to about 1 hour 30 before I lengthen it.

And then I have my LSR...which is about 30km.

I do a loop around the centre of Vienna before trotting down the canal to the river. From there I run up to the north west end, turn around, run down to the Reichsbrucke before heading back to home via the Praterstern. It's a nice run but the last 5km is a killer. My PB on this run is 4 hours and 1 minute and I've yet to be able to run the whole thing. The time is slowly coming down though. When I started it took me just over 4 and a half hours so I've knocked off 30 minutes. Oh, and I've run this 3 times so far. Right now I'm not sure what my target time is for this distance so I'll keep running it for now. Maybe when I can run the whole distance (ie no walking) I might add 5km..we'll see.


What else?

Equipment? I run in Aesics Gel Evolution 6 and I carry a Kriega Hydro 3 with me.

Food? Heh, a steady diet of homemade chicken curry (as in daily) keeps me going. I fill in the gaps with muesli and salad. I eat too much, especially in the evenings.

And me? I moved here in 2001. I'm 45, English and, as much as I love England, I love being a part of different cultures so I've no intent to move back to the UK until I retire.

My aims - well, I'm no sprinter so it's long distance stuff for me. I love the thought of doing some ultras, and I've also got this idea in the back of my head about running from here to Budapest but, for now, I'm just running.

If I can, you can.


And that's it. Pleased to meet you.